


Miscalculation

by DeadlyWeiss



Category: The Batman (Cartoon 2004)
Genre: M/M, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-29
Updated: 2020-10-29
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:02:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27184924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeadlyWeiss/pseuds/DeadlyWeiss
Summary: Edward wasn’t sure what unnerved him more, the idea that Joker was managing to outwit him, or that maybe he really didn’t want anything besides getting into his figurative pants.
Relationships: Joker (DCU)/Edward Nygma
Comments: 2
Kudos: 29
Collections: Shipoween 2020 - The Halloween Ship Exchange!





	Miscalculation

**Author's Note:**

  * For [malachiical](https://archiveofourown.org/users/malachiical/gifts).



Life had taught Edward to be wary of anyone that showed too much interest in him — a large amount of people were simply not worth his time, and it seemed like even those who weren’t out to use him eventually ended up hurting him. So when _The Joker_ of all people started to show interest beyond what could logically be explained as keeping an eye on a rival or even evaluating a potential ally, well, to Edward it was just a matter of time before his true intentions became apparent.

Except that time went on and on and _on_ , and despite the fact that Joker’s efforts had resulted in them hanging out for increasingly longer and frequent periods, he had been unable to decipher exactly what it was that Joker expected to get out if it.

He wasn’t sure what unnerved him more, the idea that Joker was managing to _outwit_ him, or that maybe he really didn’t want anything besides getting into his figurative pants.

“Eddie! About time you showed up.”

Joker was lucky that he wasn’t particularly jumpy, because he could name several other rogues whose reaction to walking into their workshop and seeing an uninvited guest sitting on their favorite chair and using it to roll around like they owned it would have been far from kind. As it was, he made a mental note about remembering to check the security system to make sure that Joker hadn’t completely messed it up when he broke in, or even worse, that he had left any of the henchmen too incapacitated to keep working, and waited until the chair passed in front of him to stop it with his foot.

“Well, someone’s in a sour mood.”

“What are you doing here?”

Joker jumped on top of the chair’s seat and took out a roll of blue paper from the back of his jacket. When he attempted to poke him in the chest with it a second later, Edward pushed the chair away.

“I have this idea for a new sprayer for my laughing gas. I keep getting told that it can’t be done, but the spoilsports are not as smart as you.”

He waved a hand at Joker to get him to give him a proper look at the paper, who did so by unrolling it with a flourish. Joker basically wanted a container that could house both kinds of his laughing gas and switch between them while also keeping them stable enough that the user wouldn’t risk blowing themselves sky-high by accident.

Not impossible, just tricky.

“If I agree to go over your blueprints and correct your mistakes, will you leave?”

“Maybe.”

Joker didn’t move, and because he could tell where the whole thing was going, neither did Edward. Instead, they kept staring at each other until it became obvious that Joker was in absolutely no hurry to leave, and that he would simply make himself an obnoxious presence if he tried to get to work with him still in the room.

Finally, he walked over to where the Joker had ended up, and he ignored the grin on Joker’s face when he had to pull on the blueprint a little bit to get him to hand it over, as if he wasn’t the one doing a favor.

“See you later, _Eddie_.”

Seemingly satisfied with having gotten his way, Joker jumped off the chair and headed towards the exit. There was no point in walking him all the way there, he was not the type to leave personal stuff lying around in the open, and with the way he had snuck in, Joker had already had more than enough time to snoop around.

Once alone, he unrolled the blueprint again to take a closer look, and that’s when he noticed that one of the scribbles had nothing to do with the idea of the container.

“Riddle me this, what do calendars have in common with you and me?”

…Hmh. Actually, maybe if he played along for a while, he’d get to the bottom of the whole thing faster.


End file.
